Mechanism for the reduction of pyroligneous acids.



No. 737,067. PATENTED AUG. 25,1903.

- W. s. BRANDT.

MECHANISM' FOR THE REDUGTIQN 0F PYROLIGNBOUS AGIDS- APPLIGATION FILED, MAB. 8,1900. 1701101221.. v a SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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W. s. BRANDT.

THE REDUCTION 'OF PYROLIGNEOUS ACIDS. 1

APPLICATION FILED MAR. @1900.

MECHANISM FOR 3 SHBETS'-SHEEI 2.

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PATENTED AUG. 25, 1903.

, W..S. BRANDT. MEGHANISMFOR THE REDUCTION OF PYROLIGNEUUS ACIDS.

APPLIOATION FILED MAE. 3, 1900.

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UNITED STATES iatented August 25, 1909;.

PATENT OFFICE.

MECHANISM FOR THE REDUCTION'OF PYROLIGNEOUS ACIDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 737,067, dated August 25, 1903 Application filedMarch 8, 1900. Serial No. 7,831. (No model.)

T0 at whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WINF'IELD Soor'r BRANDT, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Binghamtomin the county of Broome and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanism for the Reduction of Pyroligneous Acids, of which the following. is a clear, full, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to mechanism for the reduction of pyroligneous acids and means for rendering the process continuous, economical, and effective as a commercial process.

In the mechanism and construction heretofore used there has been large loss, due toidleness of the plant incident to repair of any unit of the battery of retorts, condensers, and the like; also, much waste of heat has occurred and the efficiency of the plant has been much lessened by the large fall in temperature and pressure of steam supply. incident to long lines of piping and absence of any means to overcome such fall in temperature and pressure after the steam leaves th boilers.

The object of my invention is therefore, first, to render it possible to recharge or repair any unit of the battery without any shut-down or loss to the remaining portions of the battery; second, to provide thestills and evaporating-pans with-live steam, and,

third, to save and utilize to the largest possible degree the heat formerlylost.

Referring to the drawings herewith, consisting of three sheets, in which like characis a vertical section on the line ,2 z of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a top view of a portion of a battery of retorts with the longitudinal flue and covering to the fire areas removed.

from the dome of the boiler or boilers A,

which supplies steam to the stills and evaporators, as hereinafter more fully described.

D represents the retorts, which are of the ordinary bottle-shaped type and which are set in brickwork and at the larger end are provided with doors (.1, for filling with the wood to be destructively distilled and at the smaller end with eduction-pipes 12, leading to condensers, as hereinafter described. Grates c are provided underneath the retorts D, upon which fires are laid to produce theidestruetive distillation of the wood placed in the retorts D. WVhen the retorts are filled with wood for reduction, the doors a are luted to prevent any escape of the gases at the joints.

represents condensers of'the usual type, which are provided with trapped exits d for the condensed acids, and froma point in the piped between the condenser and the trap d a pipe 6, provided witha valve 6, leads up to a main f, which carries the uncondensed gases away for further treatment, but which is no part of this invention. The'gases produced by the distillation of the wood in the retort create sufficient pressure to drive said gases down through the condensers and the uncondensed portions up to the main f,while the traps in the exits d permit of the flow of thecondensed gases, but prohibit the flow of the uncondensed gases. I

F represents transverse partition walls, which carry the covering and which preferably separate the retorts in pairs. By placing the retortsthus in pairsa single fire heats the two, thus saving fuel.

G represents fines in the walls F, which eX- tend from the inside of the front wall to the inside of the rear wall. At their rear ends these flues G open upwardly into the longitudinal flue L,hereinafter described. Side openings 9 connect the fire areas about the retorts D with the flues G. The openings 9 are provided with dampers H, which are so constructed that by means of rods 71. they may be employed separately to regulate the draft or may be all entirely closed to cut off any unit of the battery system from the fine system when desired. Over the fire areas and the fines G and the walls F is a covering consisting of channel-beams .I, I-beams I, and fire -clay flooring K. This construction is wholly supported on the transverse walls F, so that the front and rear walls may be taken down without disturbing the covering or any of the structures placed thereon. Upon this covering is constructed a longitudinal flue L, which extends the entire length of the battery and connects by a pipe 1' with the stack B. As stated, each of the fines G opens upwardly into this fiue L, so that each fire area is connected with the stack 13 and so that each fire area may be cut oil: by dampers from connection with the stack through the fines. The products oi combustion pass into the openings g through the fines G and upwardly to the flue I1, through the line L to the pipe '2 and thence to the stack 13. The gases generated in the retorts D pass through the necks, down through the pipes 11 and the condensers E. The condensed gases pass out through the pipes (l and traps (Z to receptacles (not shown) afterward to be subjected to further treatment, while the uncondensed gases pass upwardly through the pipes e to the main J, from which they pass to other apparatus (not shown) for further treatment.

The first feature of my invention is now apparent. Each unit of the battery is segregable from the system. By closing the dampers II in any unit the connection with the flue system is cut off, and by closing the valve 6 the connection with the main f is cut off. The unit so cut off may be recharged or entirely taken down for repairs without disturbing any unit either side of it or disturbing any of the superposed structure.

Referring now to the steam -main 0, it passes from theboiler along the top of the rear wall and directly over each pair of retorts passes downwardly into the fire area and toward the front in the form of a U as clearly shown at G in Fig. 4, and thence along the rear wall to the next unit, where a similar detour is made, and so on. Now as the temperature oi the fire areas is in the vicinity of 700 it is evident that at whatever point the steam-main is tapped to supply stills or evaporatingpans superheated steam is secured. This renders evident the second feature of my invention-namely, means for supplying all of the stills and evaporating-pans with superheated steam. IIeretofore as the distance from the boiler increased both temperature and pressure fell, thus reducing the efficiency of the stills and evaporator-s with the distance traveled by the steam until the economical limit was soon reached. By my process and construction I not onlyincrease the economy of an existing plant, but render possible a construction heretofore impossible.

In order that the'next feature of my inven tion may be the better understood, I will explain briefly the main steps in the ordinary treatment of the liquid product which passes out at the pipe (Z. It is first put into a still and heated in the usual manner to separate the tarry compounds which thus far accompany the liquid. The acids are driven from the still by the heat and are then passed to an ordinary condenser. Thus condensed they are free from tarry compounds and are ready to be resolved into wood-alcohol and acetate. This process consists of thoroughly neutralizing the acids with ordinary lime. Thus thoroughly mixed with sufficient lime to neutralize the acids the mixture is put into another still and subjected to heat, as above described. The wood-alcoholis evaporated and condensed in a condenser, when it is ready to be subjected to the final processes to free it from water to prepare it for market. The residu um in the still is a thick mass which is acetate of lime. This is first put into evaporating-pans and boiled down, and then is spread on a hot surface or kiln and dried, when it is bagged and is ready for market.

It will be understood that it gray acetate is to be made a copper still will be employed in separating the acids from the tar, while if. brown acetate is to be made the stills may be of iron. Vith this general. explanation, referring especially to Figs. 1 and 3, M is a still, of any desired form, situated upon the covering of the battery of retorts. Inlet and outlet pipesj and 7.: (see Fig. 3) connect the steammain 0 with acoil within the still. (Indicated in dotted outline in this figure.) Into this still. the liquid product of the destructive distillation is pumped (by means not shown.) and is subjected to heat, and it will be noted that by the placing of the still upon the covering of the [ire areas considerable heat otherwise lost is put to use. The heat drives the acids through the pipe Z (see Fig. 1) to the con denser N, which is cooled by water from a tank 0, and the condensed acids are drawn oil through the pipe on for the next treatment. Having been neutralized as above described, the mixture is put into another still M, situated at another point on the covering to the battery of retorts, similarly connected to the main 0 by pipes 7' and 7c and connecting with another condenser N. The wood-alcohol is driven oil? by heat and recovered at another exit m. The acetate remaining in the still is put into an ordinary steanrevaporator placed upon the covering to the battery at another point, which is heated through steam connectionsj and 7:, leading from the main C, identically the same as above described with reference to the stills. Finally the acetate is spread out on the unoccupied portions of the covering to the retorts and is dried by the heat conducted by said covering from the fire areas. The third feature of my invention is now apparent. By so constructing the battery oit' retorts I support the stills and evapo- IIO described, dispensing with a separate kiln.

This construction, forming a kiln, is of great importance, which Wlll be at once recognized by one skilled in the art, since it saves floorspace substantially equal to the superficial area of the battery-covering and the corresponding requirement of heat. The con struc-v tion may be either the fireproof construction shown or brick arch construction; but in either case skewbacks should be employed to protect the I-beams against the heat of the fire-chambers.

Having thus described ;my invention and its method of operation, What I claim is 1. In an apparatus'adapted for use in the reduction of pyroligneous acid, the combination of a battery of retorts, independent firechambers for the retort units, separating transverse partitions, a main flue carried by said transverse partitions, independent flues in the said transverse partitions arranged to connect each fire-chamberwith the main flue, means for cutting off each fire-chamber from the main flue, and front and back Walls supporting the retorts capable of being removed independently of the transverse partitions and the main flue, whereby any unit of the battery may be cut in or cut out or the retorts of the unit removed or replaced without interfering with the operation of the other units of the battery, substantially as and for the purposes set forth. 7

2. In an apparatusadapted for use in the reduction of pyroligneous acid, the combination of a battery of retorts, an independent fire-chamber for each retort unit, transverse partitions separating the said fire-chambers, a main flue carried by said transverse partitions, independent flues arranged in said transverse partitions, and each connected with the main flueand with one of the firechambers through separate openings g arranged longitudinally of the retort-chambers, independent dampers and means for regulating them controlling said openings g, and front and back walls supporting the retorts capable of being removed independently of the transverse Walls and the main flue, whereby any unit of the battery may be cut in or cut out and the retorts of the unit removed or replaced without interfering with the other unitsof the battery, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. ,In an apparatus adapted for use in the reduction of pyroligneous acid, the combination of a battery of retorts disposed in units,

each battery unit in a separate fire-chamber, separating-partitions between the fire-chambers, separate flue connections for each firechamber, means for controlling such flue connections, a main flue and a cover common to allof said fire-chambers resting uponand carried'by said separating-partitions, front and back walls carrying said retorts and capable of being removed orfreplaced without disturbing said partition-walls or said main flue or covering, whereby any unit of the battery may be cut in or cut out or the retorts of the unit removed or repaired Without interfering with the operation of the other units of the battery, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination of a battery of retorts, an independent fire-chamber for each retort unit, transverse partitions separating the firechambers, a covering common to all of said fire-chambers resting upon and carried by said transverse partitions, a main flue L supported upon the said covering and independent flue connections between each fire-chamber and the said main flue and front and back Walls carrying said retorts capable of removal and replacement by battery units without disturbance of'the other units of the battery,

substantially as andfor the purposes set forth 5. The combination of a battery of retorts by said transverse walls and extending over all of said fire-chambers, front and back Walls supporting said retorts capable of removal and replacement by battery units without dis- ICO turbance of the other units of the battery, and

vessels to be heated supported by said covering over the retort-chambers, these parts being arranged substantially as described, whereby a retort unitmay be repaired or removed'without interfering with the covering and vessels carried thereon and arranged over such retort unit, substantially as and for thepurposes set forth.

6. The combination with a battery of retorts and a steam-generator, of a supply-pipe lead- 7 ing from said generator, independent means for heating the steam conveyed through the said supply-pipe situated at separate points distant from said generator, comprising said battery of retorts and bends or loops in said supply-pipeextending into the fire areas of,

said retorts, stills and evaporators situated on the deck of said battery of retorts, and means for leading superheated steam from the said supply-pipe to said stills and evaporators and for returning the steam from said stills and evaporators to the supply-pipe, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination with a battery. of retorts and a steam-generator, of a steam-supply pipe leading from said generator, independent means for superheating the steam which passes through said supply-pipe and situated at separate points distant from the generator, comprising said battery of retorts and U shaped bends in said supply-pipe extending into the fire area of said retorts, a deck covering said battery of retorts, stills and evaporators situated on said deck for distilling and 5 drying the products of said retorts, heating pipe after it has been used for heating purposes, substantialiy as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two Witnesses.

\VINFIELD SCOTT BRANDT.

connections arranged to lead steam from the \Vitnesses: supply-pipe adjacent to each superheater, ]I. (J. COLLIER, and to return the steam to the main supply- F. J. ROOT. 

